Good Wine

From left, Tyler Hammond, EllaRose Hammond, Chris Pratt and Josh Hammond making the most of a pandemic.

Lockdown label joins B Corp

SOPHIE PREECE

NEW ZEALAND’S first B-Corp wine brand was born of a global pandemic, a national lockdown, and a bottle of terrible schnapps. “It’s lucky we’re not a quince schnapps company,” says Tiraki Winemaker Josh Hammond of his brother Tyler’s lockdown distilling, while grateful for the epiphany it provided.

The pandemic brought Tyler back to Marlborough from London, their sister EllaRose home from the United States, and good friend Chris Pratt back from Shanghai. The lockdown brought them together, and the quince schnapps – now compared to whiteboard cleaner – got them talking about a wine label, using grapes from the Hammond’s multigenerational family farm. “That really got the brainstorming going,” says Tyler. “We decided to switch this challenging situation to a bit of an opportunity and give it a crack.”

The discussion centred around an ethos of doing right by the environment and community they work in, says Josh. “First and foremost, we believe that the traditional business mindset of driving profits for shareholders is not a sustainable way to do business moving forward.” That set the scene for Tiraki, which means clearing of the sky in te reo Māori. “We came from a bit of a dark place, but turned it in to an optimistic space and cleared the skies,” Tyler explains.

The company achieved B Corp certification this year, after rigorous measurement of its social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Having scored 102.5 overall, compared to the median score of 50.9, they now welcome the challenge of steadily improving those metrics, which is required for continued certification.

The Hammond siblings were raised on Longfield Farm in Fairhall, which has been in the family for five generations. Their parents Lynne and Rob planted grapes amid sheep and crops 24 years ago, when Josh was 12, Tyler 9 and EllaRose just 2. “We all spent a number of our holidays working the vines,” Josh says. “Doing basically every job that needed to be done on the vineyard from a young age.”

They also grew up seeing their parents deeply involved in community and charities, which has come through in Tiraki, EllaRose says. The wine is bottled in Marlborough, and the company commits to purchase at least 50% of its core products from independent Marlborough suppliers. They also donate 2% of their revenue each year – currently to predator free projects Picton Dawn Chorus and Friends of Rotoiti – which is written into their bylaws, she says. “We have not set out to do this as a marketing thing. It’s how we will continue to grow our business and structure.”

Josh recalls an expectation that he would take over the farm one day, but instead studied law, with plans of a more urban existence, “not having anything to do with farming or viticulture or winemaking”. He wasn’t long out of university when he “saw the light” and realised that “being part of creating something was far more interesting than being a lawyer”.

His winemaking career was nurtured with vintages in Marlborough and abroad, including the establishment of the Renegade Urban Winery in London. On his return to Marlborough he worked with Native & Ancient organic wines at Isabel Estate, and now he’s making Tiraki, managing the family vineyards, and steadily converting a portion of the estate to organics, starting with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir this year, “because we believe that’s best for the environment and best for making premium wines”.

Meanwhile, Tyler is living in Amsterdam, EllaRose is soon to head to Europe, and Chris has returned to Shanghai, each perfectly placed for Tiraki’s success. But they remain kaitiaki of Longfield, EllaRose says. “We want to be the generation that continues the farm’s success and brings it to the world stage, and ensures it’s there for generations to come.”